New Year's Sparkling Wine Cocktails

Actress and party-giver Ali Larter makes her sparkling cocktails with a lemon twist for a dash of bitter. It's a quick and easy recipe that's perfect for any party.

In this delightfully fizzy cocktail, David Page showcases the fruitiness of just-pressed grape juice, blending it with dry sparkling wine to keep it from tasting too sweet.

Mixologist John Coltharp likes making this Champagne cocktail with herbal, woody Jameson 12-year Irish whiskey (made in Ireland’s County Cork).

Kathy Casey likes making her own Limoncello, the sweet Italian lemon liqueur, for this drink. Pallini Limoncello, which is widely available, also works well here.

Many believe this drink was devised by American soldiers in World War I hankering for a Tom Collins. They had gin and lemons but no soda, so they used what was at hand: Champagne. The result was named for the French-made 75-millimeter guns used in the war.

For parties, Kathy Casey premixes the first four ingredients in large batches (3 parts vodka to 1 part each liqueur, Lillet and lemon juice). When she’s ready to pour, she fills a shaker with ice and 3 ounces of the mixture, shakes, strains into a glass and tops with Champagne.

Erick Castro, former bar manager at San Francisco’s Rickhouse, created this sparkling punch. It’s terrifically light, but the malted grain–based genever adds whiskey-like depth.

According to master mixologist Dale DeGroff, this is one of the few original cocktails that appeared in the first (1862) version of the seminal How to Mix Drinks by Jerry Thomas. The recipe has remained unchanged for 150 years.

This puckery drink is prepared with rum and fresh mint like a classic mojito, but New Orleans chef John Besh makes it holiday-worthy by topping it with a splash of Champagne.

In addition to wine, Maria Helm Sinskey serves her guests refreshing punches like this one, made with tart-sweet pomegranate juice and finished with Prosecco.

This riff on the Black Velvet replaces the Champagne with Prosecco and the Guinness with raspberry-flavored lambic, a type of wheat beer made with wild yeasts.

For this Champagne cocktail, pitted sweet cherries are soaked in an anise-infused syrup.

Sean Muldoon likes drinking this tart, sherry-spiked Champagne cocktail with shellfish, especially shrimp, lobster or crab.

Ryan Fitzgerald, who admits to a chronic case of World Cup fever, named this sparkling tequila-lime drink to honor the 1970 World Cup, which was played in Mexico. (Brazil won, led by Pelé.) It’s a terrific brunch cocktail.